Is 4g really that important

[apcman]

4g sounds great but is is that important. I mean VZW 3g is pretty good and videos usually take a few seconds to buffer. I am just wondering is it worth it to wait for the bionic for another phone wig similar specs that is just 3g.

 

[Balthazar B]

It'll make a significant difference for data that streams or gets downloaded in big chunks. Besides services like Netflix, think navigation (maps), good definition video chat, as well as some services that up until now haven't been feasible. And of course there's the factor about speed that once experienced, it's hard to go back (think Corvette/Yugo).

One other thing: as VzW rolls out LTE on its aggressive schedule, 3G-only phones will lose their value much more quickly than 1st gen 4G devices.

 

[daso]

Try using 4G for a few days then decide. I'm in NYC and I love it. It makes the general experience of using a phone browser much better

 

[1812dave]

4g sounds great but is is that important. I mean VZW 3g is pretty good and videos usually take a few seconds to buffer. I am just wondering is it worth it to wait for the bionic for another phone wig similar specs that is just 3g.

Do you like getting stuck in the slow lane when driving, or do you opt for the fast lane? Your choice. I prefer to get where I'm going as quickly (but safely) as possible.

 

[grundyman]

I had the thunderbolt for a few days , took it back because of the battery life. Reactivated my Droid Incredible. Boy does my phone feel slow now when surfing the web. I have to hurry and get another 4g phone.

 

[sheba510]

4g sounds great but is is that important. I mean VZW 3g is pretty good and videos usually take a few seconds to buffer. I am just wondering is it worth it to wait for the bionic for another phone wig similar specs that is just 3g.

If you are lucky enough to live in a city with LTE now or scheduled to get LTE by end of the year, I would opt for the LTE phone. The only drawback to the LTE phones available now (HTC Tbolt and Droid Charge) is that they are single core phones.

I am just hoping that the Droid Bionic will be available by end of September when I can upgrade on contract. I paid full price for my Droid X just so I would have an upgrade available when LTE phones were released.

 

[ffac789]

I'm probably gonna upgrade to the Droid Charge relatively soon, and eventually move onto the Bionic for full price (arm and leg/kidney, liver, lung). Hopefully I can keep unlimited LTE by doing so, since I'll upgrade to the Droid Charge and maintain unlimited, and since I'll be set up for LTE unlimited, I don't have to worry about changing data plans once I get the Bionic. Unless I'm completely wrong about how that whole scenario would work, which I probably am.

 

[BigDFSU]

I'm probably gonna upgrade to the Droid Charge relatively soon, and eventually move onto the Bionic for full price (arm and leg/kidney, liver, lung). Hopefully I can keep unlimited LTE by doing so, since I'll upgrade to the Droid Charge and maintain unlimited, and since I'll be set up for LTE unlimited, I don't have to worry about changing data plans once I get the Bionic. Unless I'm completely wrong about how that whole scenario would work, which I probably am.

Why not just hold off until more info is released on the Bionic and the dates for when Verizon goes to tiered 4G plans?

Seems like you are getting the Charge to lock in the unlimited data plan, but that might be a step you can end up avoiding having to take. The Bionic might very well be out before Verizon gets rid of unlimited data. Charge seems like such an expensive phone at $300 and then when you sell it and buy a new Bionic at full price, you will end up spending even more. I'm not sure what your internet usage is for your phone, but even if unlimited saves you money, your current plan is really going to put a large dent in those savings.

 

[ffac789]

Why not just hold off until more info is released on the Bionic and the dates for when Verizon goes to tiered 4G plans?

Seems like you are getting the Charge to lock in the unlimited data plan, but that might be a step you can end up avoiding having to take. The Bionic might very well be out before Verizon gets rid of unlimited data. Charge seems like such an expensive phone at $300 and then when you sell it and buy a new Bionic at full price, you will end up spending even more. I'm not sure what your internet usage is for your phone, but even if unlimited saves you money, your current plan is really going to put a large dent in those savings.

Yeah, that would probably be the smart thing to do. I'm not sure what my average usage is, looking on Verizon's website doesn't really help since it doesn't show past/overall average usage per month. It's showing from the cycle starting April 24th to this moment I've used slightly over 11MB. I could do a worst-case scenario and multiply that usage by 31 days and then again by 2 since it's worst-case scenario, resulting in still less than a GB of usage. So, assuming Verizon goes for similar pricing to AT$T, I mean AT&T, I'll probably be fine with tiered data anyway.

Thanks for the reality check. I'm just desperate to get rid of my Storm 2 haha.

 

[DroidyMcDroid]

i'm not too interested in 4g right now. i haven't tried it yet so i don't know what i'm missing. can't upgrade till later this year anyway so i might have to miss out on the unlimited 4g data. but i don't think i use enough data to where that would be a problem

 

[sheba510]

Thanks for the reality check. I'm just desperate to get rid of my Storm 2 haha.

I had a Storm 2 for 6 months (on upgrade), then got a Droid X. That's why I had to pay full price for the X. Couldn't ditch the Storm 2 fast enough. Shame in one sense since it was Blackberry that introduced me to smartphones and I have never looked back. Of course if I had to do it all over again I would still dish out the bucks for the Droid X. Have been loving the Android experience since I got the X and there is nothing BB has to lure me back.

 

[BigDFSU]

Yeah, that would probably be the smart thing to do. I'm not sure what my average usage is, looking on Verizon's website doesn't really help since it doesn't show past/overall average usage per month. It's showing from the cycle starting April 24th to this moment I've used slightly over 11MB. I could do a worst-case scenario and multiply that usage by 31 days and then again by 2 since it's worst-case scenario, resulting in still less than a GB of usage. So, assuming Verizon goes for similar pricing to AT$T, I mean AT&T, I'll probably be fine with tiered data anyway.

Thanks for the reality check. I'm just desperate to get rid of my Storm 2 haha.

See, I wish Verizon would show that as well with data usage. I'm fairly sure right now that I'm not using all that much data. However I know with a better phone I will probably stream a lot more and at one point I might get a tethering plan so when I have a tablet I can connect it to the internet using my phone if I'm not at a place with wifi.

Ha, I've noticed that a ton of people that are really desperate to get a new phone on here are Storm users. I'm using the original Storm still and can't stand this thing. There is so much that I'm not able to do because Blackberry seemed to decide to go in a different direction than what they were claiming with the Storm. All sorts of bugs that they never fixed and I'm just sick of them. Such a shame that they let so much potential go to waste.

 

[ffac789]

See, I wish Verizon would show that as well with data usage. I'm fairly sure right now that I'm not using all that much data. However I know with a better phone I will probably stream a lot more and at one point I might get a tethering plan so when I have a tablet I can connect it to the internet using my phone if I'm not at a place with wifi.

Ha, I've noticed that a ton of people that are really desperate to get a new phone on here are Storm users. I'm using the original Storm still and can't stand this thing. There is so much that I'm not able to do because Blackberry seemed to decide to go in a different direction than what they were claiming with the Storm. All sorts of bugs that they never fixed and I'm just sick of them. Such a shame that they let so much potential go to waste.

Yeah, I agree. I don't know how you're managing with the og Storm, I heard that thing was a huge piece. Anyway, I'm sure you're just as excited as me to get rid of your Storm, about the only thing left on it that I like is BBM, and there aren't enough people to BBM with that you feel it's worth staying. The OS and the phone itself are both complete junk, though the battery life isn't that bad. I'm praying every day for an announcement regarding the Bionic, but probably not until summer time. I have Portal 2, Gears 3 beta, E3 and other games to distract me over summer until then though. Thank God.

 

[gorgalis]

Yeah, I agree. I don't know how you're managing with the og Storm, I heard that thing was a huge piece. Anyway, I'm sure you're just as excited as me to get rid of your Storm, about the only thing left on it that I like is BBM, and there aren't enough people to BBM with that you feel it's worth staying. The OS and the phone itself are both complete junk, though the battery life isn't that bad. I'm praying every day for an announcement regarding the Bionic, but probably not until summer time. I have Portal 2, Gears 3 beta, E3 and other games to distract me over summer until then though. Thank God.

I am (hopefully was) in your boat with a storm 2. About a week ago I started scouting Thunderbolts on ebay and found most were selling for a price around $400 with shipping. I ended up bidding on a good one and got it for $340... hopefully I find it in the mailbox in about a half hour.

I would definitely reccommend finding one on ebay and then selling it when the Bionic comes out. I would expect the TB would hold its value quite well, so you may be able to sell it close for what you bought it for.

 

[BigDFSU]

Yeah, I agree. I don't know how you're managing with the og Storm, I heard that thing was a huge piece. Anyway, I'm sure you're just as excited as me to get rid of your Storm, about the only thing left on it that I like is BBM, and there aren't enough people to BBM with that you feel it's worth staying. The OS and the phone itself are both complete junk, though the battery life isn't that bad. I'm praying every day for an announcement regarding the Bionic, but probably not until summer time. I have Portal 2, Gears 3 beta, E3 and other games to distract me over summer until then though. Thank God.

It's horrible. I can barely have any apps on it because the memory leak issue is so bad. BBM is awesome but all my friends have left Blackberry so no longer use it. Instead have whatsapp, which is similar, but lets people across iOS, Android, and Blackberry message each other. You're right though, other than the battery the phone and OS are junk. So thankful for Opera Mini because the Blackberry Browser isn't worth a damn.

 

[Preach2k]

It's horrible. I can barely have any apps on it because the memory leak issue is so bad. BBM is awesome but all my friends have left Blackberry so no longer use it. Instead have whatsapp, which is similar, but lets people across iOS, Android, and Blackberry message each other. You're right though, other than the battery the phone and OS are junk. So thankful for Opera Mini because the Blackberry Browser isn't worth a damn.

I have a question does you Application Memory dwindle down to 0 even when you are not using the phone?

 

[BigDFSU]

I have a question does you Application Memory dwindle down to 0 even when you are not using the phone?

Yes. I've had times where I have left my phone alone for a while and then suddenly I see that little hourglass type symbol and even if I can do anything, it takes forever to do it. Have to battery pull at that point and then wait close to 5 minutes for it to boot.

 

[Preach2k]

Yes. I've had times where I have left my phone alone for a while and then suddenly I see that little hourglass type symbol and even if I can do anything, it takes forever to do it. Have to battery pull at that point and then wait close to 5 minutes for it to boot.

I download an App Called quick pull. to reboot it so i do not have to keep pulling the Battery...

 

[sndplace]

About how important is 4g.... Well if your not slated to get 4g in your city anytime soon then i would say its not that important. But wost likely but the end of 2012 (if we are still around lol ) it will be everyware and apps will be bigger and it will take longer for you to download it. Its just like 56k,dsl and cable/Fios ... The internet ran fine on 56k, But as data and files grew it took longer to download . when dsl came out it was great and 56k got left behind ..

It might not be at its full capacity now but soon it will be. I would jst be easier to get it now and enjoy your new Phone.. Witch ever1 you get.

 

[T_Virus]

Yeah, I agree. I don't know how you're managing with the og Storm, I heard that thing was a huge piece. Anyway, I'm sure you're just as excited as me to get rid of your Storm, about the only thing left on it that I like is BBM, and there aren't enough people to BBM with that you feel it's worth staying. The OS and the phone itself are both complete junk, though the battery life isn't that bad. I'm praying every day for an announcement regarding the Bionic, but probably not until summer time. I have Portal 2, Gears 3 beta, E3 and other games to distract me over summer until then though. Thank God.

I have a BB Storm 9530 too and the only thing I would say that is good about it is the battery life. Other than that, it is a completely useless phone that can't do any other things besides the normal call out and receive calls. I really want to get rid of it but can't see myself buying a TB with all the battery issues.